Discount shoppers beware

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- On a shelf in a Port Richmond discount store, a one-liter bottle of Maestro Limpio costs just $1.99. Across the street at Pathmark, the shelves are stocked with similarly sized bottles of Mister Clean for $3.49. One product is labeled in Spanish, the other in English. Both have the same familiar bald, blue-eyed man with a pierced ear, known for his cleanliness, grinning with his strong arms crossed on the label.
What's the difference -- besides the language and the price -- between the two?
One was checked by American authorities, and the other was not.
It has become standard practice for American companies to tap into cheap labor overseas. Now, many U.S. consumers are turning the tables: They have found they can cut costs in the home by buying products from abroad that sell here at bargain-basement prices.
There are at least 20 discount stores scattered across Staten Island from Tottenville to Tompkinsville, where you'll find Mexican Mr. Clean, Indonesian Johnson's baby powder and Russian Colgate toothpaste. Together, they'll lighten your wallet by less than $5, but none has been subject to the scrutiny of American regulatory authorities. 
SUB: GRAY MARKET 

The sale of products designated for sale in other nations is not illegal in the United States, but it's decidedly a gray area.
Doug Arbesfeld, a spokesman for the Food and Drug Administration, said the foreign goods are part of a "gray market" that exists in the United States.
"Gray-market goods are products that are intended for sale in countries other than the U.S. and technically, they are not intended for sale in the U.S.," he explained.
Gray-market products are not monitored by the United States governmental agencies, such as the FDA, that monitor their domestic counterparts.
"If things are imported through the official system, the FDA has a presence," Arbesfeld said.
When products are imported illegally, that is not the case, but because the sale of gray-market goods are not technically illegal, cracking down on them is not the FDA's highest priority.
"It still shouldn't be sold here, but we have to prioritize what we go after. Our focus is more on safety and ethicality as opposed to gray-market goods," Arbesfeld said.
Although consumers may be tempted by low prices, Arbesfeld advises consumers to be wary of gray-market products. "People should buy products that have been approved specifically for U.S. markets. If you see a product that does not have any English on it, I wouldn't buy it," he said. 
SUB: 'NOT UNCOMMON' 

Procter & Gamble, the makers of the Mister Clean and its Mexican counterpart, could not tell how the bottle of Mexican Mister Clean cited above wound up on Island shelves, but said that third-party distributors often buy their products legitimately in other countries and then send them over the border to be sold in the United States.
"It's not uncommon. We do see a lot of it unfortunately, and we do the best we can," said Bev Larkin, a spokeswoman for Procter & Gamble.
"The problem we run into is once it reaches a third-party distribution, it's really out of our control," Larkin said.
Mister Clean manufactured in America is regulated and monitored by the Environmental Protection Agency, but unofficially importing the product from another country means the EPA has not checked the product.
Larkin said the company has several avenues of locating gray-market products.
"Sometimes our own people are out in the field looking for this," she said. "We have a huge sales force that is always checking the stores and stocking the shelves, and it may be found that way."
The company also relies on help from consumers, who can contact Procter & Gamble about suspicious products at their customer service numbers and through its Web site.
If a substantial amount of mysteriously packaged products are reported, the company sends a field employee to obtain a sample of the product for testing to determine if it is counterfeit, Larkin said. Even legitimate products that were not meant for distribution here would be removed from shelves.
"If it's got packaging that doesn't belong in this country, even if it is our product, we don't want it sold here," she said. "We would pull that product."
As for the Mister Clean found at the 99 Cent Depot, Larkin said the company would try to get to the bottom of its origins.
"We'll look into it and investigate it, and probably send somebody over to pick some up if it's still there," she said.
Ross Halthouse, the company's external relations manager, said that a product labeled entirely in a language other than English is a violation of U.S. packaging laws.
He said Procter & Gamble takes such situations "very seriously," but that this unauthorized importation of foreign products is "impossible to monitor."
"Regardless of where a legitimate Procter & Gamble product winds up, it's going to be safe for consumers," he added. 
SUB: GLOBAL STANDARDS 

At another discount store -- 99 Cent Stores Plus in Tompkinsville -- Colgate toothpaste manufactured in Brazil and labeled in Russian for distribution in Moscow sat on the shelves just days after several Islanders reported falling ill from the use of dollar-store counterfeit toothpaste that may have been manufactured in South Africa.
The Russian Colgate toothpaste is certified not by the familiar American Dental Association -- but by a dental association in Kazakhstan.
"Colgate does not import toothpaste into the U.S. from Brazil or Russia," Colgate said in a statement offered by spokesman Tom Paellela.
"Regardless of the country where we manufacture it, Colgate toothpaste is made in strict adherence to our global safety and quality standards," the statement continued. "However, toothpaste sold in the United States must meet specific requirements and be registered for sale here. We rely on information from our sales organization, consumers and governmental agencies to help identify any products not manufactured and packaged for sale in the United States." 
SUB: WHAT ISLANDERS THINK 

At 99 Cents and More in Tottenville, tubes of Vaseline Intensive Care Moisturizing Lotion were labeled in Indonesian as a product of that nation.
Ann Romeo of Pleasant Plains, who was shopping at 99 Cents and More with her 11-year-old daughter Allison, purchased some supplies at the store and said she usually only shops there for decorations and school supplies.
Ms. Romeo said she would not purchase a product labeled in another language because she would be unable to understand the directions.
"I'm sure it's probably similar in their country to here, but we have different standards," she said.
Marguerite Palmer of Tottenville said she often buys all sorts of products, including toiletries, at the store and called it "the best around."
"They're nice and they're honest and they're friendly," she said of the owners.
Ms. Palmer was not worried about foreign goods at the store and said that if she needs an item, she will not spend time trying to find out where it came from.
"For 99 cents, who cares?" she said. 
TAIL: Niven Abdelhamid and Jillian Jorgensen are news reporters for the Advance. They may be reached at abdelhamid@siadvance.com and jorgensen@siadvance.com.